[EP] musketeers don't hide

[st_eadiesthefour]

The longer Constance was here, the less she could let herself believe it was all some fever dream. She was here, stuck in an inn in the Americas almost four hundred years in the future. As much as she wanted to be home, she didn't have the means to get there, and she wasn't going to sit around doing nothing. She hadn't done that while her husband was at the front; she wouldn't do it now.

She needed to learn about all the new technology – a new word, one she'd learned from River Song – and learn English, and she wasn't going to do either hiding away in her room or in the kitchens, although after a week watching the inn's unnerving cook and preparing things that didn't include chicken, for whoever was hungry, she thought she was starting to get a feel for the stove and ovens, and the rooms cooler than most cellars without being underground.

Today she'd made several meat pies and some with fruit, similar to the apple pie many had had the day they arrived, and taken them to the cafe. After setting them out for people to serve themselves, much as she would've at the garrison, if the cadets... or Porthos gave her the time to, she sat at a table nearby with needle and thread. A seam in her overbodice needed repair, and it with only the one outfit it was the only mending she was comfortable doing in public, regardless how little most of the women here wore.

She looked up as she heard someone come in, threading the needle by feel alone, and offered them a friendly grin. "'ello." It wasn't much, and she'd have to switch to French for anything else, but a simple greeting she'd heard often enough to offer in English. "Il y a de la nourriture, si vous la voulez," she added, gesturing toward the pies with a tip of her head.

Comments

[st_accato]

Buffy couldn't speak French except some lyrics in songs but that didn't count and if you'd asked Giles, he'd say her grasp at what he would call the English language wasn't all that grasped either.

"Umm, did you say you want me to move the pies?" She was pretty sure s'il vous plait was please but she wasn't sure what voulez was unless it meant female valet.

[st_eadiesthefour]

Maybe Constance should ask Snow or River to make her a sign, so she didn't have to explain every time that she didn't speak English. Maybe hang it around her neck. But since she didn't have a sign, Constance shook her head. "Je ne comprends pas, mademoiselle."

She pointed to the girl, then to the food laid out on the table, and mimed eating, question in the tilt of her head.

[st_accato]

Buffy knew mime! "Oh, you want me to eat!" She wouldn't turn down a pie, especially when it wasn't Chicken pot pie. She was getting a little tired of chicken. And her one outfit. She walked over to the pie and took a slice before returning to sit next to the woman.

"You sew?" She set the plate down and pointed to the darning that she was doing. "Sew?" Buffy mimed sewing.

[st_eadiesthefour]

The fleur de lis on Constance's bodice wasn't a seal exactly, although it was a symbol – of both France and its musketeers – and she glanced down at it a second. The girl's attention seemed more on Constance's mending than the rest of her clothes, and the gesture went with it. She tilted the hand holding the cloth, showing where the was pulling free, rather than try to explain what was she was doing and why, when the girl wouldn't understand her words anyway. Sceau, seau, saut, sot... and maybe, "Sew?" she echoed, making another stitch as she watched the girl for confirmation.

[st_accato]

"Sew!" Buffy got excited that they were tentatively, sort of, understanding each other. She tugged on her skirt and said, "skirt. I am really getting tired of wearing one thing." The odds were pretty good that the other woman wouldn't understand that whinging, but Buffy really was getting tired of wearing the same thing all the time.

She was thinking of wearing a sheet toga just to break up the monotony. Or check to see if there was a lost and found somewhere in the hotel where she could scrounge up clothes.

[st_eadiesthefour]

The skirt was unbelievably short to Constance's eyes, but no more than most of the other garments she'd seen women wearing here. She took it in with the practiced eye of a seamstress. The stitches were small and perfectly even; the cloth was fine, but not sturdy enough for every day without quickly wearing out. And that might be the problem, the meaning behind the frustration in the girl's movements and tone. If she, like Constance had appeared with only the one outfit, and it wouldn't last long...

Constance's mouth pursed as she thought, then set her sewing aside and stood, motioning for the girl to come with her. She wouldn't understand, but it was easier talking than not, so Constance said, "There's a shop, if you're looking for more clothes. I'll show you." She hadn't looked around herself yet, for several reasons, but if it would help the girl.

"Oh! I forgot," she said, stopping almost as soon as she'd started, and put her hand on her chest. "Constance."

[st_accato]

Buffy did not understand what the woman was trying to say but she did understand the motioning movement so began to walk with her wondering where they were going. Then she said her name, or at least Buffy interpreted that as what she'd been doing and did the same.

She pointed to her own chest and said "Buffy." Then she pointed to her and said, "Constance." Just in case she hadn't been saying her name, that would give her a clue that that was how Buffy had understood her to say.

[st_eadiesthefour]

Constance gave another friendly smile when the girl introduced herself. "Buffy." Then led the way towards one of the few places in the inn with a name she recognized - the boutique. Hopefully Buffy would find something there she liked and could wear.

[st_accato]

"Oh my God, I think I love you." Buffy exclaimed as soon as she saw the sign for the boutique. She turned bright eyes to Constance. "Thank you. Uh. Oh. Hey. I know this one! Merci."

[st_eadiesthefour]

Seeing the girl light up, Constance laughed. If only everything in the future was so easy to fix. "Je vous en prie, Buffy." She gestured for Buffy to lead the way. Constance wasn't ready to adopt the clothes of this time, and she didn't see how the clothes could possibly fit well when they weren't made to measure, but she'd be glad to help Buffy look for something to wear.

[st_accato]

Buffy made a bee line toward a very cute floral skirt and black top. It looked like it would have flow if she had to kick someone's ass. Hopefully Ethan's.

"Oooh what do you think of these?" She held up both the skirt and the top for Constance to see.

[st_eadiesthefour]

The layers of chiffon were such a fine and delicate material Constance could see them as underskirts for only a very rich lady, and it took a moment for her to realize it was meant to be a skirt on its own, with that floral pattern. She reached out, feeling the fabrics of skirts and bodice between her fingers. The bodice in particular looked too small, but when she tested it, it stretched unexpectedly and in ways the cloth Constance was familiar with did not. Enough it might fit after all. "They're lovely," she said with a grin. Revealing, she thought, but lovely, and piqued Constance's curiosity enough she wanted to get a better look at some of the other garments sometime soon.

[st_accato]

Buffy didn't know what she said but the smile told her that she probably liked the outfit. She went in search of the dressing room, but not before grabbing another top to see which one looked best with the skirt. "You should try that one." Buffy pointed to a pretty blue floral dress. "It would look pretty on you."

[st_eadiesthefour]

Buffy pointed out another dress, but didn't stop for it on her way to... wherever she was going. Was there something she wanted Constance to see about it? Taking a closer look, she found nowhere to attach sleeves, and while it was longer than most skirts she'd seen women wearing here, it would still be above the ankles on someone Constance's height. It had also been slit on the side to show layers underneath, but Constance searched nearby without finding what those layers were supposed to be. The colors and the flowers were pretty, though.

[st_accato]

Buffy had tried on both outfits but in the end, chose the original one with the top. Instead of returning in the same outfit that she'd entered, she came back with her new outfit on. When she saw Constance she twirled. "New clothes! Man thank you so much for showing me here." She paused and muttered crap.

"Um, merci for the ..." She didn't know the French for clothes but she did know one word that was connected to fashion. "Couture." Her fingers trailed over the top and skirt.

[st_eadiesthefour]

Constance frowned confusion for a moment. She hadn't made the clothes, only pointed Buffy to them. But maybe it was close enough, since she thought – hoped – she understood what Buffy was thanking her for.

"Je vous en prie." She hadn't done much at all. But Buffy's happiness at new clothes brightened Constance's day too.

[st_accato]

Constance might not think that she'd done much for Buffy, but she would be eternally grateful to have found the boutique. Even if it was only one pair of different clothes.

"It's amazing what one new outfit will make you feel fresh." She knew that Constance wouldn't understand her but Buffy assumed that her look of contentment would express everything.